Dr. Malik
Novice writers often wait months, sometimes even years, before their first piece is published. However, Usman T. Malik, MBBS, shares a different experience. His letter to the editor of Bachon ka Pakistan, a Pakistani children’s publication, was published shortly after being submitted. He was just 7 years old.
Dr. Malik is now an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, and also acts as a consultant in the Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, at both Sanford Health, Bismarck, N.D., and Integrated Medical Care Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan. Since his writing debut more than 30 years ago, he has written articles that have been published by Wired, The Herald, Al Jazeera, EOS Magazine and The Rheumatologist. He has also written more than 30 horror and science fiction short stories, in which monsters, other-worldly creatures and humans—well, they start out that way—live on the pages. So far, 2,000 copies of his debut story collection, Midnight Doorways: Fables from Pakistan, have sold in 17 countries.
“As Anton Chekhov (renowned Russian playwright and doctor) said, ‘Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress,’” jokes Dr. Malik, who travels back and forth between Pakistan and the U.S. for work every few months.
Dr. Malik taught The Rising Dust Speculative
Fiction workshop in Lahore, Pakistan, 2014.
Dr. Malik’s writing skill and talent are not familial. His parents and other relatives are shopkeepers and businessmen.
He says his writing inspiration comes from reading, specifically work by Stephen King, the king of horror; Philip Roth, a novelist and short story writer; and many others. Since 2015, Dr. Malik has won four awards, two in 2022: the William L. Crawford Fantasy Award from the International Association for the Fantastic in Arts and the World Fantasy Award, Best Collection, from the World Fantasy Convention.
Priorities
Dr. Malik completed his higher secondary education (equivalent to high school graduation) in Pakistan in 2000 at the age of 18. From there, he went straight to medical school at Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan, graduating in 2005 with a MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery). Five years later, he completed his residency in internal medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, and his fellowship in rheumatology in 2018 in the Department of Rheumatology, University of Florida, Gainesville.
Dr. Malik with author Neil Gaiman at the Clarion West Writers Workshop in 2013.
